Blog #15

Ehrlich describes cowboys a bit differently than the stereotypical view us Americans tend to have. Instead of describing them how the typical Marlboro advertisement does, she describes them as sympathetic and admirable, determined and courageous, selfless and tender. They are the tough guys who go out and save animals when they are in trouble, after they go and nurture the newborn calves or lambs. Cowboys are also polite to women but in reality, they just don’t know how to channel their emotions after being out in the fields with all men or animals all day, everyday. She seems to have a lot of respect for these men and also admiration.

The tone of her essay is full of admiration. Throughout the whole essay, she explains many different admirable situations cowboys go through each and every day. From their gentle, care-giving side to their strong and rugged side, Ehrlich has a wonderful example of each. She points out their positive qualities and also the negative...but each negative has a positive and logical reason for it which ends up making it an admirable quality.

I think her tone throughout this essay really helped prover her point. I'm sure many people are second-guessing their impression of cowboys after reading this essay. She got her point across very strongly and told America what a real cowboy was.

Blog #14

Sante uses his arguments about secrecy and examples of the breakdowns of secrets (Soviet Union, the media, and the internet) to explain to us that our society thrives off of secrets. Secrecy has become an extremely important part of American culture. I think people are constantly searching for secrets because it gives them the satisfaction of knowing something that other people don’t have a clue about. It is a feeling of being better than one another.

I do agree that the internet is a “nemesis” to secrecy. The famous people throughout the world are constantly having every aspect of their lives in the public eye…there is always an article or picture of something supposedly going on in their life. But the internet doesn’t only invade these famous people’s secrecy. Social Networking Sites, like MySpace or Facebook, create situations for the average person to invade the secrecy of others as well as put every detail of their life on blast to the whole entire world in a matter of seconds. I understand that it is the person’s choice to choose what to and what not to put on these social networking sites, but our society has created such a demand for these things that most people don’t even think twice about the fact that they are diminishing their own secrets post by post.

Blog #13

Whether it is in a public or private school setting, I think all young students need to learn ethics and personal values to make them better people in the future. I don’t think that teachers need to go overboard on these lessons, but if the children are paying attention then they should pick up on just a few of the many necessary lessons that are used in the world all around them.

In order to produce “good citizens”, schools should teach a few values to make their kids stand above the rest. Students need to be taught to always have a good character. Values like respect, responsibility, fairness, citizenship, trustworthiness, and compassion are very important in creating a “good citizen.” Each student needs to respect others opinions, be responsible for their own actions, make decisions without favoritism or prejudice, respect authority and law, tell the truth, and care for their surroundings. However, I don’t think it is only up to the teachers to teach these children lessons. I believe that parents play a huge part in teaching these values and school is just a place to practice them for the real world.

I think that any subject is fair game to be taught in school provided that it follows state standards. People freaking out over whether or not it is ok to talk about religious beliefs are just wasting their time. I believe that as long as the class learns about a wide variety of the different religions it should be ok for a classroom. When these kids are out in the “real” world, they will have to handle risky situations or touchy subjects just like these. Every person in this world is unique and they all have their own opinions…religion is just one of them.

Blog #11

Culminating Writers Profile

1.     Before my time in this class, writing was pretty easy for me. I didn’t have to think too hard to write essays or do work in my previous English classes. I was getting A’s without even trying my best. Since we have covered many new topics (most of which I have never heard of), I am beginning to change. I’ve learned that writing a strong essay takes lots of time and effort and that the little things are what makes it stand out above the rest.

2.      I think I have a good voice in my writing and the readers usually understand exactly what I am trying to say. I can paint pictures with my words.

3.     My weakness as a writer is whipping out an essay to high expectations in a timed situation. I need to get better at writing under pressure. I also need to have a better word choice to show that I am well-educated and learn to go deeper into what I am writing instead of being clear and straight to the point.

Evaluating your writing process

1.    If I had more time to write another draft of this essay, I would switch some things around and go into more detail on my examples.

2.   After receiving peer feedback, I found it easiest to improve my word choice and the structure of my essay.

3.   The biggest problem I had in writing and revising this essay was deciding what to write about. There was such a broad range of topics that I felt would be sufficient and it was hard to narrow it down. Once I finally chose a word, it was kind of hard to piece it all together.

Evaluating Your Successes

1. I didn’t really revise a whole lot. After receiving the grade, I assure you that revision of this essay will be in my near future!
2. I found it challenging to combine these three elements (descriptive, narrative, and illustrative) into my essay. Once I got a good train of thought, it became easier.
3. I thought I did pretty well with addressing my audience throughout the whole essay. I think I had a little bit of something that most people could relate to.

Being Honest with Self

1. I was most intimidated by the fact that there weren’t strict guidelines to write by. It seems as though there are specific things supposed to be included in essays and this one had a wide open topic. I got over this little by little as I kept writing because I gained confidence in my essay.
2. I really tried hard to focus on not using a lot of “to be” verbs, being more descriptive, and going deeper into all of my topics.
3. After reading student essay examples, I picked up on some ideas which were the springboard for my essay. I really enjoy reading the example essays because they help me understand what is expected for the essay.
4. A peer told me I should use a higher level of vocabulary to improve my essay.
5. Well currently, I am no where near where I’d like to be at the end of this year as a writer. I really hope this class will help me to not be a surface writer but instead go very deep into the subject.

Blog #10

           King defines “nobodiness” as the feeling of being completely ignored, having no authority, and as invisible. An example of that is when he talks about some African-American women not being referred to as a “Mrs” just because of the color of their skin. This shows the huge lack of respect given to them. These women feel extremely degraded and as if they aren’t even there, or simply put as a “nobody”. This sense of “nobodiness” was really common during the time that our country was working on segregation.

      
            Other times when people feel like a “nobody” could be at school. A kid could walk from one class to another and not one person would acknowledge him/her. This poor child probably feels horrible and like he/she is invisible to the rest of us. Imagine how that would make you feel… Alone, depressed, and a “NOBODY”. Getting into stereotypical situations, the popular crowd and the athletes usually would describe people less fortunate than them or the nerds they see at school as “nobodies” just because they feel as though they are more superior to them because of their social status.

Blog #9

I took a lot away from reading the book, Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom. In this book, Morrie talks to Mitch about how the American society lives today. Morrie teaches the lesson that our lives should not be centered by material possessions. Instead, he wishes that we build human relationships and center our lives around people because the things we buy will eventually disappear or break, while relationships with one another can last a lifetime. He also says we should not “buy into society” and try to be like everyone else, instead we should begin to live independently and the way we want to. Could you imagine what our world would be like today if every single person dressed, behaved, and looked like one another?

After reading this wonderful book, my life has changed. The lessons were bulging out of the book, just waiting to be taught. I heard what Morrie was saying to Mitch and I am trying my best to put his heartfelt lessons into my everyday life. I have been focusing more on my friends and family instead of living my life through the usual materialistic ways. I feel as though I am an overall better person because of reading Albom’s book. This book will continue to spread through the hearts of many people around this world and hopefully change our society's materialistic view on life.